Transcription
Marine Le Pen was ineligible last year, but she is eligible again today. Do you see this face? It's the face of happiness, and I wish you to experience a happiness like mine. She therefore immediately declared that she was a candidate for the next presidential elections. But that's not all, because the court of appeal also confirmed that she was guilty of embezzlement of public funds, and she was sentenced to several years in prison for it. But Marine Le Pen decided to appeal to the Court of Cassation. The problem is that by making this appeal, if she wins, she might risk becoming ineligible again. Whereas, on the other hand, if she loses, she risks just wearing an electronic bracelet during her election campaign. So, Marine Le Pen eligible, not eligible, electronic bracelet, no bracelet. Well, I really think we'll have to try to clarify all this a bit because it's starting to get a little complicated. There are many things that artificial intelligences cannot do. They cannot serve me my kibble or give me cuddles. That's why I keep my intern. But for the rest, they can still be very useful, especially if you don't settle for the free modes, which are not the best versions. Obviously, when it comes to getting a paid subscription, it's not always easy to know which AI model to choose. You can always get several subscriptions to several AIs at the same time, but there is a much better solution. The solution is Mammoth AI. Mammoth AI is a French company that has developed an application that brings together all the major AI models in one place and with a single subscription. This way, you can test Claude, Chat GPT, Gemini, Mistral Grok, and many others. From €10 per month, you have access to the latest versions of all these AIs, all within the same interface. For my part, I have to make do with my intern for kibble and cuddles. But you can click on the link below to discover Mammoth AI and to support the channel. And now, back to the video. As usual, and even more than usual, today, don't forget to leave your opinions in the little comment boxes provided for that. You will find them absolutely intact when you leave, and what's more, you will have learned a little something about the law in passing.
Well, first of all, what happened for Marine Le Pen to end up here? Between 2004 and 2016, the National Front, which had become the National Rally in the meantime, had parliamentary assistants paid by the European Parliament who were actually working for the party, or even for its leaders themselves. It's a scandal. It's scandalous. I'm thinking in particular of Marine Le Pen's personal bodyguard or her father Jean-Marie Le Pen's butler. This butler was employed for a few years as a parliamentary assistant, but no trace of his work as an assistant could ever be found. It is said that his work consisted of producing press reviews by putting sticky notes on articles. I [laughter] tidy up. No, no, you don't tidy up, you move things. I call that slacking off. And where it gets tricky is that this is absolutely not legal. It's called embezzlement of public funds, and it's a criminal offense. A criminal offense punishable by 10 years in prison and a fine of one million euros. Last year, the criminal court sentenced Marine Le Pen to 4 years in prison, two of which were suspended and convertible. Convertible means she won't go to prison and can serve her sentence at home under electronic surveillance. And in addition, she is also sentenced to what is called a complementary penalty. And this complementary penalty is ineligibility. The court sentences her to 5 years of ineligibility and, above all, orders the immediate execution of this ineligibility. Let me explain. In France, we are in a state of law, and justice is wary of itself. It is wary of the mistakes it can make, and that is why it has put in place mechanisms to correct these potential errors. [grunts] Legally, this is called, for example, double degree of jurisdiction. This means that if you believe you have been wrongly judged, you can ask other judges to judge you again. The best-known form of double degree of jurisdiction is obviously the court of appeal, but there are others. And if you appeal, then since there is a world in which this first decision is not good, well, you don't apply this first decision. You wait to see what the court of appeal will think. Legally, we say that the appeal is suspensive. You absolutely must appeal. Obviously, there are exceptions to the principle of the suspensive effect of an appeal because the court can decide that even if the convicted person appeals, certain sanctions can still be provisionally executed. And this is precisely the case for Marine Le Pen, since the Paris criminal court decided that even if she appealed, her ineligibility would be executed immediately. So, since the end of March 2025, Marine Le Pen has been ineligible for 5 years. This means she could not run in next year's presidential elections. Well, I'm not spoiling anything by telling you that the far-right party was aware of this risk and had taken the precaution of having a plan B, Jordan Bardella.
We are in the middle of the video, and if you are still watching, it means you like it. So, subscribe to the channel so you don't miss out on others. As I told you, Marine Le Pen appealed her conviction. She was therefore retried at the beginning of 2026, and the decision of the court of appeal has just been handed down. She has again been found guilty of embezzlement of public funds, and she has again been convicted for it. And this time, she only gets 3 years in prison instead of 4, including 2 years suspended and 1 year of firm imprisonment. One year of firm imprisonment, convertible under electronic surveillance. But most importantly, her ineligibility is maintained. It is maintained, but it has been reduced to 45 months, including 30 months suspended. And this is extremely important because it means that not only is her firm ineligibility reduced to 15 months, but she has also already served this period of ineligibility. Between April 2025 and now, she was ineligible for 5 years, meaning until 2030. But we are learning today that this ineligibility is now over. Marine Le Pen is eligible again and can therefore participate in next year's presidential elections. "I am a candidate for the presidential election." Marine Le Pen immediately announced that she would appeal to the Court of Cassation. But before seeing what will happen in the coming months, let's start by considering what would have happened if she had not appealed to the Court of Cassation. You will understand why later. If she had not appealed, her conviction would have become final 10 days after the court of appeal's decision. 10 days is the deadline to appeal. And from that moment on, within 4 months, she would have been summoned by a judge for the enforcement of sentences, and this judge would have set the conditions for her home detention under electronic surveillance. We can reasonably assume that the, that this famous judge for the enforcement of sentences. We can reasonably assume that the judge would have arranged her detention conditions so that she could conduct her election campaign normally. This is quite usual for such arrangements. When a convicted person has a job, it is obviously out of the question to deprive them of it, and the judge organizes the conditions of home detention for the convicted person to take into account their professional activity, for example, by adjusting their days and hours of release. Moreover, this was done for Nicolas Sarkozy without any particular legal problems, and it probably wouldn't have caused any for Marine Le Pen either, at least from a legal point of view. But things are completely different today. Ah, because Marine Le Pen has chosen to appeal to the Court of Cassation. And there, well, that changes absolutely everything. And there are two possible solutions. Either the Court of Cassation rejects her appeal, or, on the contrary, it accepts it and overturns the court of appeal's decision. So, be careful, the Court of Cassation is not a judge who re-judges the case a third time. That is not its role at all. Legally, we say that the Court of Cassation is not a third degree of jurisdiction. So, if the Court of Cassation doesn't serve to have a third trial, what is it for? Well, it examines whether the law was correctly applied in this case. It verifies if the court of appeal was regularly constituted, if it followed the applicable procedure, if the facts were correctly qualified, if the sentences pronounced are indeed those provided for by law, and so on and so forth. In short, it does not judge the case, it judges the trial.
So, what can happen now for Marine Le Pen? There are two solutions. Either the Court of Cassation rejects her appeal, or, on the contrary, it accepts her appeal and then overturns the court of appeal's decision. First solution, the simplest: the Court of Cassation rejects Marine Le Pen's appeal. In that case, the court of appeal's decision becomes final. Marine Le Pen is definitively sentenced to 3 years in prison, including two suspended and one firm. And this firm prison sentence is convertible, as I told you. That is to say, in this first scenario, Marine Le Pen will not go to prison. She will serve her sentence at home under electronic surveillance with the possibility of obtaining adjustments. I just explained that to you. That's the first solution, the simplest to explain and understand. You will understand why right away. Second solution: this is the one where Marine Le Pen's appeal to the Court of Cassation is accepted. And in this second case, things are extremely different, and indeed, they are not necessarily very favorable for Marine Le Pen. If the Court of Cassation overturns the court of appeal's decision, it means that this decision disappears completely, and the only applicable decision is that of the criminal court from last year, 2025. That is to say, in this case, Marine Le Pen becomes ineligible again for 5 years, and this ineligibility is provisionally enforceable, so she cannot run in next year's presidential elections. No kidding. Don't you find that paradoxical? Well, this is something very paradoxical because it means that if she wins her appeal to the Court of Cassation, she loses the right to run in the presidential elections. But that's if the Court of Cassation makes its decision before the presidential elections, and more precisely before the deadline of March 19th. March 19th is the deadline by which the Constitutional Council must establish the official list of candidates. What would happen if the Court of Cassation had still not made its decision one month before the first round of the presidential elections? And this hypothesis is not at all excluded. We will see why. The Court of Cassation has stated that it will make its decision before next year's presidential elections. Except that Marine Le Pen's lawyers can try to slow down the procedure to ensure that it happens after the elections. And perhaps that is what they intend to do. Now, I'm not just saying this out of the blue. I have objective elements to assume and publicly state it. [throat clearing] Indeed, Marine Le Pen's defense has already announced that it will raise a number of arguments before the Court of Cassation, particularly that until now, the judges have mistaken the offense. The National Rally, Marine Le Pen, and other convicted individuals have been convicted of embezzlement of public funds. But their lawyers claim, on the contrary, that it was impossible to convict them for this, because according to them, embezzlement of public funds could only be committed by people tasked with a public service mission and not by elected officials. We are innocent. What nerve. Well, this argument has already been raised several times in this trial. It was first raised before the investigating judge, who rejected it. It was raised again before the indictment division, which also rejected it. It was still raised before the criminal court and then before the court of appeal, which also rejected it. In fact, there is already jurisprudence on the subject. It has already been judged several times. There have already been elected officials who have been prosecuted and convicted for embezzlement of public funds. So I don't think this argument has much chance of convincing the Court of Cassation. That said, the right to try, and other arguments have also been invoked. Beyond the right to condemn everything, to appeal to the Court of Cassation, some have seen it as a way to postpone the Court of Cassation's decision until after the presidential elections. And in that case, it would no longer be the Court of Cassation that would decide, but the Constitutional Council. As we said, the Constitutional Council must absolutely establish the official list of candidates who meet the necessary conditions to participate in the election. And if the Court of Cassation has not yet ruled by the deadline, then the Constitutional Council would have to decide whether or not Marine Le Pen is eligible. And there, I must admit, I have great difficulty predicting what the Constitutional Council might decide. Generally, law is a field where the results are very predictable. Fortunately, by the way, it's called legal certainty. For example, you sign a contract, the person with whom you signed it does not respect it, well, I can predict without fear of being wrong that in the end, they will be ordered either to fulfill their obligation or to reimburse you. I am reassured. Thank you. Regarding Marine Le Pen's eligibility alone, I have no scientific evidence that allows me to predict what the Constitutional Council might decide. From a strictly legal point of view, it might have been better for Marine Le Pen not to appeal to the Court of Cassation. That way, she would at least have been sure not to risk being ineligible in the next presidential elections. But on the other hand, from a media point of view, it would have been a public admission that yes, she and her party did indeed pocket 3 million euros from the till, and that's something they refuse to acknowledge in their narrative.
So, what would happen if Marine Le Pen were elected next year before the Court of Cassation's decision? Well, presidential immunity, the same one I told you about recently during the attempted search of the Élysée Palace, the link to my video is here in the description. Well, presidential immunity would protect her for the entire duration of her term. Things would be sort of suspended for 5 years, and the case would only be reopened one month after the end of her term. And perhaps, moreover, that is the calculation they made. But you see, we are starting to move away from the realm of law and enter that of politics, and as they say in the courthouses, every time politics enters the courtroom, justice leaves. I now have things to tell you about the future of the channel. I will continue to publish videos during the summer, but I thought you might want something a little lighter than these analyses of current affairs or these criminal cases that I usually cover. And that's why the next video will probably be a completely different one. Last week, I was invited to the Japan Tour Festival, and on that occasion, I played the art pla. I had lunch with the creators of the Guignols de l'info puppets. I interviewed them, and all that, well, I'm going to tell you about it in a special episode that won't be about law. So, tell me in the comments if you like the idea, and in the meantime, you can now watch one or the other of these two other videos. You have the right to 10 years in prison and a million francs in fines. But no, not francs. Oh dear!